background processes

[PHILO67]

hey there been awhile..... i have 18 processes running after i shut down what i think i dont need. about (6-7 svchosts) atiptaxx.exe explorer.exe (ati2evxx.exe 2 of these..) lsass.exe services. exe
winlogon.exe..csrss.exe smss.exe taskmgr.exe system.exe system idle process.. these change from lower case to caps at random on startups what do these mean i know a couple but if anyone can explain to me why 90meg of ram is needed to look at my desktop im more concerned with the svchosts can i shut them down???
want to run as little ram before gaming if possible any help tnx philooooo....

[DoPeY5007]

with these specs

AMD Athlon XP 2700+ OC'D to 2.275 GHz reads 2800+
SAPHIRE RADEON 9200 SE
Realtek AC'97 Audio 6.1ch
256mg ddr400 kingston ram at 333
3gig ddr333 max

Why worry?

[FlyingPenguin]

90Mb is the BARE minimum WinXP uses to just run itself (which is why systems sold with only 128Mb are a joke).

If all you're using is 90Mb with no apps running, you're fine. That's about right for a clean install of WinXP. More normal (after you've installed your printer drivers, AV app, and some other crap) is around 120 - 140Mb.

The following is a list of processes running in a very clean install:

ALG.EXE
CSRSS
EXPLORER.EXE
ISASS.EXE
SERVICES.EXE
SMSS.EXE
SVCHOST (yes it's normal to have several of these running)
SYSTEM
SYSTEM IDLE PROCESS
TASKMGR.EXE
WINLOGON
WSCNTFY.EXE (only SP2 I believe)
WUAUCLT.EXE

There may be more for your printers, scanners, cameras, AV app, etc).

Because I run a taskbar calendar app that also reports available physical memory, I've become aware lately that some apps are very slow to release RAM back to the system (STEAM seems to be notorious for hogging 50Mb or more after you shut it down, for instance).

I've started using an app called FreeRAM XP Pro. You can configure it so that when you run it, it does a memory flush, freeing all unused RAM. I usually gain 50Mb or more after using STEAM or Photoshop.

Basically I know from experience that when I'm back at the desktop with nothing running (ecept the apps that I always leave running), I should have around 700Mb according to my little taskbar app. If I see less than that then I fire up FreeRAM and let it do a quick flush.

I don't leave FreeRAM running in the background all the time as they'd like you to. I just use it to flush and then close it.

[PHILO67]

thanx sir flying penguin just the right info as usual tnx philoo